Since the 1980s, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has rapidly developed into a versatile, high-resolution characterization technique, available in a variety of imaging modes. Within intermittent-contact tapping-mode, imaging bistability and sample mechanical damage continue to be two of the most important challenges faced daily by AFM users. Recently, a new double-control-loop tapping-mode imaging...

Magnetic skyrmions are particle-like topological excitations in ferromagnets, which have the topo-logical number Q = ± 1, and hence show the skyrmion Hall effect (SkHE) due to the Magnus force effect originating from the topology. Here, we propose the counterpart of the magnetic skyrmion in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) system, that is, the AFM skyrmion, which is topologically protected but witho...

One of the key goals in atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging is to enhance material property contrast with high resolution. Bimodal AFM, where two eigenmodes are simultaneously excited, confers significant advantages over conventional single-frequency tapping mode AFM due to its ability to provide contrast between regions with different material properties under gentle imaging conditions. Bimo...

We present an atomic force microscope (AFM) head for optical beam deflection on small cantilevers. Our AFM head is designed to be small in size, easily integrated into a commercial AFM system, and has a modular architecture facilitating exchange of the optical and electronic assemblies. We present two different designs for both the optical beam deflection and the electronic readout systems, and...

Physiological interactions between extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and membrane integrin receptors play a crucial role in neuroplasticity in the hippocampus, a key region involved in epilepsy. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a cutting-edge technique to study structural and functional measurements at nanometer resolution between the AFM probe and cell surface under liquid. AFM has been ...

We have developed an electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of ultratrace amounts of aflatoxin M(1) (AFM(1)) in food products. The sensor was based on a competitive immunoassay using horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a tag. Magnetic nanoparticles coated with antibody (anti-AFM(1)) were used to separate the bound and unbound fractions. The samples containing AFM(1) were incubated with a fi...

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) uses a very sharply pointed mechanical probe to collect real-space morphological information of solid surfaces. AFM was used to image the surface morphology of a biaxially-oriented polypropylene film. The polymer film is characterized by a nanometer-scale fiber-like network structure, which reflects the drawing process used during the fabrication of the film. Polym...